USGP makes BIG difference by going Zero Waste!

Thanks to the US Gran Prix of Cyclo-Cross Series organizers, Crank Brothers, CLIF BAR, and Eco-Cycle, the inaugural Zero Waste effort for the national 'cross series was a big success, and made quite a difference for the environment.

In addition to educating racers and fans about recycling and composting and putting the concept out there that it is possible to organize and participate in major events with a minimal impact on the environment, the statistics clearly show what a difference Zero Waste events can have:

Overall diversion rate: 79.5% --> almost 80% of the total materials collected at all the events was kept out of landfills thanks to reuse, recycling, and composting.

Resources Saved: 4.8 trees, 2,078 kilowatt hours of energy, 1,915 gallons of water and diverted 11,715 pounds of compostable materials from the landfill.

Zero Waste results for Portland USGP

It was a cold, wet, and windy weekend in Portland Dec. 1-2 for the final round of the US Gran Prix Series, but that didn't stop Jen and the team from pulling off another successful Zero Waste event. Special thanks to Robert from 1-800-Got-Junk for taking care of hauling our recyclables to the recycling facility and our compostables to the compost facility.

Thanks to all the eco-friendly folks in Portland, the weekend achieved the highest diversion rate of the USGP Series!

Diversion Rate: 83%
Resources Saved: 1.8 trees, 535.5 kilowatt hours of energy, 493 gallons of water and diverted 1350 pounds of compostable materials from the landfill.

Cody Cox and his School Visit

Today, Tuesday, the third of December 2007, I had the great pleasure of doing my first school visit. I decided to visit my old elementary school of which I have had many great experiences. I met with my old counselor and second grade teacher to discuss what class would be appropriate. It was decided that I would do the 5 grade class. I also arranged with the P.E. teacher, who is amazing, to do a recycling type relay with the kids. Following this activity they met with me in the media center. I put together a great slideshow so the kids could all see what I was talking about. At first I discussed who I was and then progressed into the sport of cyclocross. I also talked about our team as a developing focus and also its strong environmental mission. We discussed the barriers and running sections and shifted into the bike which I brought with me. The kids were fascinated with the bike; half my time there was explaining it and especially the SRAM Double Tap shifters, which they thought were awesome. I then discussed the importance of leaving a “green” world and what they can to do help. I mentioned that Hummers were not a great thing to own and that new great options are being developed such as hybrids. I also discussed the strong importance of recycling and to a good surprise, the school recycles pretty much everything, so the kids were very responsive on that subject. I also talked about composting and how they could do it. They really were fascinated by it. At the end I did some questions and answered them. One question was if I had ever heard of Team Health Net. I was shocked to hear a fifth grader ask me about that. It turns out his dad is the team physician, which was really cool. I told the kid he should start doing this sport, and he already does. He did the junior division at the two local cross races here in town. Looks like our team can add another great member!

Robin Eckmann race report: 11/25 Red Rocks CX

At Sunday's race it was the first time in a while where I was again able to relax before the start. My goal at the race was actually just to watch my pedal frequency and be relaxed on my bike, and to look back and say this race really helped me prepare for the next USGP and Nationals.

I was not even planning to try for the win, I was just thinking to myself that I want to be in the first ten, then I need to make the first selection of the race because it was really windy at the beginning. After two laps about 10-15min into the race, three of our team were in the lead group (Andrew, Kevin, and me) and there was no other team in the front group. We were tying to figure out how the Belgians sometimes do it at Worlds with many in the front group, and we decided to try to ride like the team time trial guys in the Tour de France.

After four laps, Andrew had some bike problems so we were down to two left but then with two laps to go Conor was trying to make the move up. When Conor made it up to the group then I made the last move and I won. I was really happy because that was my first cat.3 win in cyclocross.

Thanksgiving Weekend

Well last weekend racing down and Denver was a good time. Though the drive over from Grand Junction was just a mess with all the snow and traffic. The course on Saturday was real fun and technical. Along with it being really bumpy and muddy and had a good steep s-turn climb which started to hurt after a couple of laps. And the whole team had some good results.

Than it was Sundays race witch was also another great course. Warming up on the course it was really slick and muddy. It was like a slip and slide. Though by the time we started the mud harden up a little bit but was still slick. Then we got the call ups to the front line. I had an awesome start and was off the front at the beginning. Andrew and Robin followed and we worked together to make a bigger gap from the field. Kevin was just behind us with a Pro Peloton racer and was working for us by trying to slow him down. Andrew had some bad luck and had a mechanical with his bike causing him to drop back from the break. With about two or so laps to go Kevin started to bridge his way up. Never did get up to us but did make a gap from the fellow Pro Peloton racer. Robin attacked on the last lap to get the win. I took 2^nd and Kevin took 3^rd, sweeping the podium which was awesome. Andrew and Yannick finished up strong finishing up not far behind.

Conor

Zero Waste results from New Jersey USGP weekend

This time around we had a diversion rate of 80% (only 11.5 bags of trash, believe it or not!). Resources saved: 0.9 trees, 625 kilowatt hours of energy, 576 gallons of water and diverted 6465 pounds of compostable materials from the landfill.

thanks to Jen from Eco-Cycle for running another amazing Zero Waste cyclo-cross weekend.

Finally posting New Jersey USGP results

catching up after a busy couple weeks and Thanksgiving...here are the team's results from the second US Gran Prix Series weekend, in Mercer County, NJ:

Saturday -

Danny Summerhill, 14th overall Elite Men / 2nd U23
Alex Howes, 33rd overall Elite Men / 9th U23

Andrew Barker, 6th Jr 17-18
Cody Cox, 14th Jr 17-18

Robin Eckmann, 2nd Jr 15-16
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Sunday -

Danny Summerhill, initially 22nd overall Elite Men / 5th U23 after coming back from a broken chain - but DQ'd for an illegal bike change.

Brady Kappius, 26th overall Elite Men / 7th U23

Andrew Barker, 11th Jr 17-18
Cody Cox, 14th Jr 17-18

Robin Eckmann, 1st Jr 15-16
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Overall USGP Series standings after 4 races:

U23 = Summerhill 3rd, Kappius 10th

Jr 17-18 = Barker 11th, Cox 16th

Class

Well the last couple of weeks or so I have had some presentations to do in my English class. The first presentation I talked about our team, and what were doing to help start Global Cooling. I started off on talking about how we try and make the races in Colorado zero waste. I also gave the class a couple of tips on what they could do, even if it was only in there rooms. The easiest way the class thought they could help out is to start recycling and actually use the recycle bins around campus. My professor really liked what our team is trying to do and now does not let us use the trash can and makes us recycle during class. Also, I let them know to ride there bike or walk when ever they can. There is no reason to drive and put Co2 into the air especially when it’s only less than two miles. I found this really cool, because going to class now I see some of my class mates riding there bikes to class instead of driving. I also let them watch a clip on what Cyclocross really is. A lot of them had never heard of it and found it really interesting. My next presentation was just last week over Global Warming. Sure the class has heard of it, but most of them did not know how bad it is already. And a lot of them had no idea that we were contributing to Global Warming that much. These presentations were fun to give, because I got to teach people on this issue and I learned a lot more information in the process.

Conor

Crank Brothers team issue green Candy SL pedals for sale

Head on over to Cyclocrossworld.com

Weekend Racing

This weekend there was two UCI races. One in Gunnison on Western State Campus and one in Durango on Fort Lewis Campus. Conor, Brady, Danny and I were at both races. Conor and I raced in the Cat 3's. We were doing great the whole race on Saturday off the front with one other guy. Conor crashed with 2 laps to go, into a corner. It was just myself and another guy from Durango off the front. Then on the last lap about half way through the lap my chain broke. Conor came in second and I got a DNF with my mechanical. Then Brady and Danny raced shortly after. They both had a great race and both placed in the top ten with Danny finishing on the podium.
Then on Sunday the race was in Durango. Conor and I got there to warm up and get the course dialed in. But once we got there we noticed that we went off an hour and a half earlier then the day before. So we had no time to warm up or ride the course. We finished up 6th and 7th. Then again Brady and Danny rode a great race. Danny had a mechanical and worked his way back up. Both again placing in the top ten on a UCI race.